Wednesday, October 28, 2020

My Wednesday Pantry-Chicken Three Ways

      I get bored with chicken but as an easy to cook and have on hand staple, I often use more as an ingredient after a first meal. On DH's shopping trip, he bought a 2 pound package of tenderloins, basically, smaller portions of chicken breasts. I like this size as they need very little seasoning and cook in no time at all on the stove top or the oven. An odd amount, but the package contained 11 pieces of chicken. I cooked the lot at one, but five I did slightly different for meal one.

Meal one: Parmesan Chicken with side of  baked pasta.

     Once again no real recipe, but after I coated five pieces in  olive oil, I dipped each one in a mixture of breadcrumbs, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, a pinch of salt, black pepper, and  parmesan cheese. I sprinkled a bit more parmesan on to.

     Meanwhile, I layered lasagna style leftover crushed tomatoes from the pasta fagiole soup made a week ago, seasoned well with garlic pepper, and Italian seasoning,, then some of the mini penne, sliced fresh zucchini,  a cheese mixture of the 3/4 cup or so of cottage cheese I had left, an egg, and more seasoning and parmesan, and the other half of the sauce on top. I baked for 35 minutes at 350, then put the chicken in  the oven with it and baked it all for another 20 minutes, topped the pasta with the bits of mozzarella I had eft, and finished it off for 10 minutes more. I made a pie plates worth of pasta, and it was a dinner hit with DH, served with one of his favorite ways I make chicken.

Mini penne pasta was cooked between a layer of sauce,
and vegetables, cheese, and more sauce.


DH's three parmesan chicken tenderloins.

Meal two: Chicken, broccoli, cheese and rice hotdish

     I've shared this version of the universal hotdish recipe. Two cups cooked rice,  diced chicken (I used three of the tenderloins), chopped or larger as you like broccoli, 4-6 ounces cheddar cheese, i can cream of chicken soup with 3/4 cans of milk, heavily seasoned with pepper, garlic and onion powder Mix all together and just bake. So easy, and the cheese broccoli, chicken combo with the rice is comfort food at it's finest. 

Meal three: Chicken salad wraps

     This I just made early this morning with the final three tenderloins, cut in  cubes, mixed with 1 stalk finely chopped celery, about 1/4 of a chopped smallish onion, a handful of craisins, 3 tablespoons of mayo (approximately) lot's of pepper. Mix it all well and let it sit for a good 15 minutes, then stir again (celery lets of some water and that then blends better without getting too much sogginess later. DH will take of his lunch in two large tortillas, wrapped burrito style. I've mentioned DH has a good appetite, so normally this would be enough for two people, particularly if served with fruit or soup. This is really good as the based for a pasta salad.

     The package of tenderloin was $5.68 total. If I really sat down with a calculator, I would guess all the other ingredients, down to the stalk of celery, would be around $5 worth of ingredients. So for under $12, we got five big meals (plus I had leftover pasta yesterday and will have leftover hotdish for today for lunch), for $2.40 a meal, not counting the leftovers. We'll be eating like this a lot over the winter, trying to stretch both the meat but also the ideas to keep some variety. Do you have any  favorite chicken recipes? 

19 comments:

  1. Yes chicken can be boring with too much repetition even when it is dressed in tasty various versions.
    Time for some trout.

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    1. I'm ashamed to say, I would not know how to cook trout, but my kid an husband would love that on the menu.

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  2. Your recipes sound delicious! M eats a lot more protein due to food allergies, so I'm always looking for ways to stretch the meat as much as possible.

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    1. I've seen some good chicken and chick pea curries posted on a few sources. Is he a curry fan? There would be the protein form both sources.

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  3. Sounds great! I try to stretch out as many meals as I can like this. I did a post a while back with recipes for 12 different meals from one London Broil. I want to put together another post for chicken and another for pork sooner or later. Another great way to stretch meals is to serve salad first. I did that almost every night when I had all three kids at home.

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    1. I will be going your way and looking for that post. Salad greens will get to be more expensive than meat pretty soon here.

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  4. I can eat a piece of boiled, plain chicken breast and be really happy! I just like chicken any way fixed! I had the chicken/broccoli/rice dish a few days ago. We loved the leftovers. Tommy says he does not like chicken in any kind of pasta/tomato combination. Yet, he loves chicken parmesan! I just fix it and he eats and says it is delicious! I might try the first iteration. Any kind of chicken salad is good for both of us, even when he objects...lol. Because of allergy to all mammal products, I can only eat chicken safely.

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    1. The rice and broccoli dish is nice, isn't it. I hope you meant broiled chicken. I can't imagine boiling chicken unless as part of soup.

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  5. Right now I have so much chicken in my freezers. I prefer chicken but hubs gets tired of it! I will try these recipes.

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    1. Dh gets tired, but rarely complains. My daughter though thinks we eat way too much chicken-so hopefully when she is hoe on break ash can give us some meal ideas.

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  6. Oh, the creative ways we try to stretch chicken! It's a particular favorite of mine; I'm pretty happy with it prepared in any way. White or dark meat, it makes no difference. Preferred dishes are chicken alfredo with homemade white sauce, baked parmesan chicken, chicken adobo over jasmine rice, diced chicken in a fritatta or quiche. I also like to shred and season it for tacos or enchiladas. And those roasted chickens from the store deli are so versatile and so easy to make into several meals.

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    1. I really like chicken in Mexican inspired dishes-the flavors are so good. Interesting on a frittata or quiche-never tired chicken with eggs. I'm game to try all these for variety so thank you for commenting!

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  7. I also usually buy the tenderloins, too.

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    1. Even when I have the large breast, I cut them don tenderloin size.

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  8. Your baked pasta dish looks delicious!

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    1. It really was-and basically just the last of a bunch of bits and a handful of pasta!

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  9. I love chicken but TheHub complains about having it too often so I try to accommodate him (sometimes) To me chicken is so versatile that I could easily have it everyday.

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    1. If prepared or in different recipes, I too do not get tired of it. He really enjoyed his chicken salad wraps for lunch.

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  10. Oh I love these ideas. Thanks!
    Now to see if I can find your soup fagiole recipe.

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